Fat32

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 11 Sep 2000 10:23 am

What are the pro's and cons for switching to a FAT 32 file system? It seems like it would be a tighter more efficient system, but I've heard it wasn't a good thing, too.

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

George Rozak · Post by **George Rozak** » 11 Sep 2000 11:44 am

Pros: smaller cluster sizes (only 4KB on hard disk drives up to 8.3 Gig). This basically means that it's much more efficient to store files (less wasted drive space) on FAT 32 than on FAT 16. Also, FAT 32 supports much larger partitions on hard disk drives.

Cons: not supported by all operating systems. DOS/Win3.x, the original Win95 & it's first service release, & WinNT 4.0 do not support FAT 32 file systems.

In general, you're probably better off with FAT 32 if you run an operating system that supports it.

Hope this helps.

George

David Pennybaker · Post by **David Pennybaker** » 11 Sep 2000 1:24 pm

Another con: Things like Disk Defragmenter will run more slowly with FAT32, because of the larger number of clusters.

I use FAT32, because I like the small cluster size (4kb) on large partitions (up to 8 GB).

If you have files that are very large, then the smaller cluster size isn't very useful, and will only slow down the system (to some degree) because of the increased overhead from the extra clusters.

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Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 11 Sep 2000 1:32 pm

I can't think of a reason not to go to the FAT32 other than if you are using an older operating system. The FAT32 is the standard for all newer systems.

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 11 Sep 2000 11:17 pm

Thanks to all for your input!

As I understand it, with a 2 gig hard drive, FAT16 has a cluster size of 32kb and FAT32 has a 4kb cluster size. So, if you have a 100kb file: in FAT16 you have to use 4 clusters, wasting 28kb. Whereas, with FAT32 you'd use 25 clusters. Is this right?

I am also wondering, if you convert to FAT32 do you lose the information on the drive? Once again, one guy told me that it would wipe out the drive. Another said it wouldn't. which is it? Both of them told me NOT to compress anything. So I assume at least that's right.

If I re-format, do I have to re-format my zip disks and floppies, too? Or will they work un-re-formatted?

Also: will it have any effect on the pictures and other stuff that people download from my sites?

(BTW: I'm running Windows 98)

Thanks in advance!

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com[This message was edited by Ernie Renn on 12 September 2000 at 12:21 AM.]

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 12 Sep 2000 2:50 am

Windows98 has a utility program to convert the hard drive to the FAT32. It is not supposed to lose any data. I did it on an older IBM aptiva, with a 1.6GB hard drive, when I upgraded it from WIN95 to WIN98 and didn't have a problem. I also wound up with some extra free disk space after the conversion.

Anytime you do any "maintenance" such as scandisk or defrag there is a chance that something can go wrong but it rarely does.
However, I would back up any critical data that you absolutely don't want to lose before you run the FAT converter. Murphy's law is always lurking around...

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 12 Sep 2000 4:52 am

FAT32 is supported by Windows 2000 and now, by Linux!

RickRichtmyer · Post by **RickRichtmyer** » 12 Sep 2000 9:11 am

I switched to FAT32 on my C:, D:, E:, and F: partitions when I upgraded to Win98. At that time, my C: partition had about 50MB free. After converting from FAT16 to FAT32, I had about 250MB free. That was worth it as far as I'm concerned.

The FAT16 to FAT32 conversion utility will only work on drive letters C: through F: though. For drives G: and beyond, you have to delete and redefine the partitions with FDISK. That, of course, means backing up and restoring all data on those partitions.

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Rick Richtmyer
Good News

David Pennybaker · Post by **David Pennybaker** » 12 Sep 2000 10:23 am

For drives G: and beyond, you have to delete and redefine the partitions with FDISK. That, of course, means backing up and restoring all data on those partitions.

Or you can use Partition Magic by PowerQuest. A great program.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons
http://members.xoom.com/dpennybaker/index.htm

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 12 Sep 2000 11:02 am

Thanks for all of your help and information! I was on the fence about it, but now I'm leaning towards FAT32. I will back up critical data, if I do convert to it.
It might not be for a couple weeks, as my schedule is tight, but when I do I'll post my results here.
It does seem like a waste of space to have a 2k file use up 32k in size.
In the meantime, if any of you have any more information to add, please do so.
Thanks again!

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

memphislim · Post by **memphislim** » 13 Sep 2000 1:07 pm

Floppies and zips are unaffected by the conversion. You're only converting the hard drives, and you can have two different physical drives running two different ways.
If you have Win98 there's no question to convert to FAT 32. Software will run faster especially software designed to run on FAT32 systems. You are now in the 32 bit realm not 16.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 13 Sep 2000 2:55 pm

Hi Ernie. All I can say is that I was not as fat at 32 as I am at 46

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Carter D10 8p/10k
Richard Sinkler BS, www.sinkler.com

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 18 Sep 2000 6:15 am

It's now a moot point. Last week my computers mother board blew up. It wouldn't recognize anything and would only come up in the safe mode. I have since built a new one. Now if I can just recover what I had. I have all the information of the drives, but I'll have to re-install my programs.
BTW: Richard; I'm the other way around.

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Bob Carlson · Post by **Bob Carlson** » 5 Oct 2000 8:37 pm

Ernie:
I'm going to quote this from a computer mag I have. Q: What is FAT32 and should I use it.
A: The 32-bit File Allocation Table (FAT32)is a technology included with win98 and win95 OSR2 (release two) that formats hard drives more efficiently than the older FAT16. Click Start, then Help and choose the Search Tab. Type FAT32 in the box and select the FAT32 Converter entry to learn more about the conversion procedure.
I've only had my PC since March and it was already set on FAT32. It had no warnings that it might damage your hard drive.

Ten more days til we go see Buddy In Phx!

Bob Carlson Uff DA![This message was edited by Bob Carlson on 05 October 2000 at 09:41 PM.][This message was edited by Bob Carlson on 05 October 2000 at 10:04 PM.]